Application for a Site <application> (2023)

Overview

The <application> element controls the configuration settings for a specific application. An application in Internet Information Services (IIS) 7 or later is a grouping of files that delivers content or provides services over protocols, such as HTTP. When you create an application in IIS 7 and later, the application's path becomes part of the site's URL.

In IIS 7 and later, each site must have at least one application, called the root or default application. However, a site can have more than one application. For example, your online commerce Web site can contain several applications, such as a shopping cart application that lets users gather items during shopping and a login application that allows users to recall saved payment information when they make a purchase.

An application must contain at least one virtual directory, called the root or default virtual directory with configuration settings defined in a <virtualDirectory> element.

Compatibility

Setup

The <application> element is included in the default installation of IIS 7 and later.

How To

How to create a new Web application

1. Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager:

   • If you are using Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2:

     • On the taskbar, click Server Manager, click Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

   • If you are using Windows 8 or Windows 8.1:

     • Hold down the Windows key, press the letter X, and then click Control Panel.
     • Click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

   • If you are using Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2:

     • On the taskbar, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

   • If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7:

     • On the taskbar, click Start, and then click Control Panel.
     • Double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

2. In the Connections pane, expand the server name, expand Sites, and then click the Web site to which you want to add an application.

   See Also

   How do I download files created by my own application deployed on HoloLens2 to my PC? - Microsoft Q&A

3. In the Actions pane, click View Applications, and then click Add Application...
   

4. In the Add Application dialog box, at a minimum enter information in the Alias: and Physical path: text boxes, and then click OK.
   

   Note

   You can click Select to choose a different application pool, click Connect as to configure the application to accept credentials from a specific account, and click Test Settings to test authentication and authorization settings for the application.

Configuration

The <application> element is configurable at the server level in the ApplicationHost.config file.

Attributes

Child Elements

Configuration Sample

The following configuration example displays a <site> element that contains two applications. The first <application> element defines the root application for the site, along with the root virtual directory for the application. The second <application> element contains the configuration settings for a CRM application on the Web site. The path attribute defines the path for the application. This <application> element contains two <virtualDirectory> elements. The first defines the root virtual directory for the application, and the second defines an Images virtual directory for the application.

<site name="Contoso" id="2" serverAutoStart="true"> <application path="/"> <virtualDirectory path="/" physicalPath="C:\Contoso\Content" /> </application> <application path="/CRM"> <virtualDirectory path="/" physicalPath="C:\Contoso\Content\CRM" /> <virtualDirectory path="/Images" physicalPath="E:\Images" /> </application> <bindings> <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:80:www.contoso.com" /> </bindings></site>

Sample Code

The following examples create a new application named ShoppingCart with a virtual directory root of C:\Inetpub\Contoso\ShoppingCart for a site that is named Contoso.

AppCmd.exe

appcmd.exe set config -section:system.applicationHost/sites /+"[name='Contoso'].[path='/ShoppingCart']" /commit:apphostappcmd.exe set config -section:system.applicationHost/sites /+"[name='Contoso'].[path='/ShoppingCart'].[path='/',physicalPath='C:\Inetpub\Contoso\ShoppingCart']" /commit:apphost

C#

using System;using System.Text;using Microsoft.Web.Administration;internal static class Sample{ private static void Main() { using (ServerManager serverManager = new ServerManager()) { Configuration config = serverManager.GetApplicationHostConfiguration(); ConfigurationSection sitesSection = config.GetSection("system.applicationHost/sites"); ConfigurationElementCollection sitesCollection = sitesSection.GetCollection(); ConfigurationElement siteElement = FindElement(sitesCollection, "site", "name", @"Contoso"); if (siteElement == null) throw new InvalidOperationException("Element not found!"); ConfigurationElementCollection siteCollection = siteElement.GetCollection(); ConfigurationElement applicationElement = siteCollection.CreateElement("application"); applicationElement["path"] = @"/ShoppingCart"; ConfigurationElementCollection applicationCollection = applicationElement.GetCollection(); ConfigurationElement virtualDirectoryElement = applicationCollection.CreateElement("virtualDirectory"); virtualDirectoryElement["path"] = @"/"; virtualDirectoryElement["physicalPath"] = @"C:\Inetpub\Contoso\ShoppingCart"; applicationCollection.Add(virtualDirectoryElement); siteCollection.Add(applicationElement); serverManager.CommitChanges(); } } private static ConfigurationElement FindElement(ConfigurationElementCollection collection, string elementTagName, params string[] keyValues) { foreach (ConfigurationElement element in collection) { if (String.Equals(element.ElementTagName, elementTagName, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)) { bool matches = true; for (int i = 0; i < keyValues.Length; i += 2) { object o = element.GetAttributeValue(keyValues[i]); string value = null; if (o != null) { value = o.ToString(); } if (!String.Equals(value, keyValues[i + 1], StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)) { matches = false; break; } } if (matches) { return element; } } } return null; }}

VB.NET

Imports SystemImports System.TextImports Microsoft.Web.AdministrationModule Sample Sub Main() Dim serverManager As ServerManager = New ServerManager Dim config As Configuration = serverManager.GetApplicationHostConfiguration Dim sitesSection As ConfigurationSection = config.GetSection("system.applicationHost/sites") Dim sitesCollection As ConfigurationElementCollection = sitesSection.GetCollection Dim siteElement As ConfigurationElement = FindElement(sitesCollection, "site", "name", "Contoso") If (siteElement Is Nothing) Then Throw New InvalidOperationException("Element not found!") End If Dim siteCollection As ConfigurationElementCollection = siteElement.GetCollection Dim applicationElement As ConfigurationElement = siteCollection.CreateElement("application") applicationElement("path") = "/ShoppingCart" Dim applicationCollection As ConfigurationElementCollection = applicationElement.GetCollection Dim virtualDirectoryElement As ConfigurationElement = applicationCollection.CreateElement("virtualDirectory") virtualDirectoryElement("path") = "/" virtualDirectoryElement("physicalPath") = "C:\Inetpub\Contoso\ShoppingCart" applicationCollection.Add(virtualDirectoryElement) siteCollection.Add(applicationElement) serverManager.CommitChanges() End Sub Private Function FindElement(ByVal collection As ConfigurationElementCollection, ByVal elementTagName As String, ByVal ParamArray keyValues() As String) As ConfigurationElement For Each element As ConfigurationElement In collection If String.Equals(element.ElementTagName, elementTagName, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) Then Dim matches As Boolean = True Dim i As Integer For i = 0 To keyValues.Length - 1 Step 2 Dim o As Object = element.GetAttributeValue(keyValues(i)) Dim value As String = Nothing If (Not (o) Is Nothing) Then value = o.ToString End If If Not String.Equals(value, keyValues((i + 1)), StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) Then matches = False Exit For End If Next If matches Then Return element End If End If Next Return Nothing End FunctionEnd Module

JavaScript

var adminManager = new ActiveXObject('Microsoft.ApplicationHost.WritableAdminManager');adminManager.CommitPath = "MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST";var sitesSection = adminManager.GetAdminSection("system.applicationHost/sites", "MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST");var sitesCollection = sitesSection.Collection;var siteElementPos = FindElement(sitesCollection, "site", ["name", "Contoso"]);if (siteElementPos == -1) throw "Element not found!";var siteElement = sitesCollection.Item(siteElementPos);var siteCollection = siteElement.Collection;var applicationElement = siteCollection.CreateNewElement("application");applicationElement.Properties.Item("path").Value = "/ShoppingCart";var applicationCollection = applicationElement.Collection;var virtualDirectoryElement = applicationCollection.CreateNewElement("virtualDirectory");virtualDirectoryElement.Properties.Item("path").Value = "/";virtualDirectoryElement.Properties.Item("physicalPath").Value = "C:\\Inetpub\\Contoso\\ShoppingCart";applicationCollection.AddElement(virtualDirectoryElement);siteCollection.AddElement(applicationElement);adminManager.CommitChanges();function FindElement(collection, elementTagName, valuesToMatch) { for (var i = 0; i < collection.Count; i++) { var element = collection.Item(i); if (element.Name == elementTagName) { var matches = true; for (var iVal = 0; iVal < valuesToMatch.length; iVal += 2) { var property = element.GetPropertyByName(valuesToMatch[iVal]); var value = property.Value; if (value != null) { value = value.toString(); } if (value != valuesToMatch[iVal + 1]) { matches = false; break; } } if (matches) { return i; } } } return -1;}

VBScript

Set adminManager = CreateObject("Microsoft.ApplicationHost.WritableAdminManager")adminManager.CommitPath = "MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST"Set sitesSection = adminManager.GetAdminSection("system.applicationHost/sites", "MACHINE/WEBROOT/APPHOST")Set sitesCollection = sitesSection.CollectionsiteElementPos = FindElement(sitesCollection, "site", Array("name", "Contoso"))If (siteElementPos = -1) Then WScript.Echo "Element not found!" WScript.QuitEnd IfSet siteElement = sitesCollection.Item(siteElementPos)Set siteCollection = siteElement.CollectionSet applicationElement = siteCollection.CreateNewElement("application")applicationElement.Properties.Item("path").Value = "/ShoppingCart"Set applicationCollection = applicationElement.CollectionSet virtualDirectoryElement = applicationCollection.CreateNewElement("virtualDirectory")virtualDirectoryElement.Properties.Item("path").Value = "/"virtualDirectoryElement.Properties.Item("physicalPath").Value = "C:\Inetpub\Contoso\ShoppingCart"applicationCollection.AddElement(virtualDirectoryElement)siteCollection.AddElement(applicationElement)adminManager.CommitChanges()Function FindElement(collection, elementTagName, valuesToMatch) For i = 0 To CInt(collection.Count) - 1 Set element = collection.Item(i) If element.Name = elementTagName Then matches = True For iVal = 0 To UBound(valuesToMatch) Step 2 Set property = element.GetPropertyByName(valuesToMatch(iVal)) value = property.Value If Not IsNull(value) Then value = CStr(value) End If If Not value = CStr(valuesToMatch(iVal + 1)) Then matches = False Exit For End If Next If matches Then Exit For End If End If Next If matches Then FindElement = i Else FindElement = -1 End IfEnd Function